Ways boys vs girls draw people

[Rachel]

My son has been drawing people since around age 3.  They had big heads with the arms & legs coming right out of them, no bodies.  He's 6.5 now and still frequently draws people that way.  He will draw the body and neck if the person is doing something specific in the picture or if the person needs an outfit.  He spends a lot of time drawing, several hours a week, often illustrating short stories he wrote.  I'd say 50% of his people are heads with legs and arms coming out of them.  Other things that he draws tend to look more realistic.

 

My daughter on the other hand is 4.5, she isn't very interested in drawing, but if she does draw a person, it always has a body. She'll also use lots of colors (her person hanging on my fridge is 7 different colors), my son tends to stick to 2-3 colors in his drawings.  I have heard that girls tend to use lots of colors and color the entire page while boys stick to a handful of colors and cover very little of the page.  I've witnessed that among the kids I know.

 

Is the difference in how my kids draw people a girl vs. boy thing or just random?

 

I'm not concerned, but he is a little on the old side to still be drawing people that are just heads, right?  When do kids typically outgrow that stage?

[Flux]

My son (same age) draws like that, as well. One difference I've noticed between my son's and my daughter's (9 y.o.) drawings is motion. Yes, my daughter drew more detailed/lifelike/colorful pictures, earlier. But her pictures tend to be more like a still-life, you know? The complexity in my son's drawings is more implied. :) His focus is just elsewhere... Projectiles seem to be important!

[Crimson Wife]

Girls tend to have more advanced fine motor skills as young kids than boys. So that is why I think you tend to see girls being more into drawing, and boys more into sculpture when it comes to art.

[Rachel]

My son (same age) draws like that, as well. One difference I've noticed between my son's and my daughter's (9 y.o.) drawings is motion. Yes, my daughter drew more detailed/lifelike/colorful pictures, earlier. But her pictures tend to be more like a still-life, you know? The complexity in my sons drawings is more implied. :) His focus is just elsewhere... Projectiles seem to be important!

Yes, there is definitely a lot more motion in my son's drawings.

[City Mouse]

If you are concerned, The HWT pre-school program has "Mat Man" which is used to help teach kids to draw a body with more parts than just head and limbs.

[sewingmama]

Both my DD and DS were uninterested in drawing people at that age...they just never did. Finally in K there was a lot of " draw a person doing X " in our curriculum so I showed them how to draw stick people LOL. Now at 8 ( today awww) my DD draws people with lots of detail and my DS still just draws stick people. DS doesn't like to draw much in general though...he's my logic guy.

 

DS2... well he can't even do anything beyond a scribble yet...people are a long way off for him LOL. I'd be thrilled if he started drawing circles with arms coming out of their heads LOL.

[RootAnn]

Ds#2 draws people with no necks and limited torsos. But I seem to remember dd#1 & dd#3 doing that at his age (~ 5). 

 

My oldest boy just started to draw people. At his pre-K checkup at the doctor, they wanted him to draw a person. He replied that he doesn't draw people - mostly trucks and Transformers (who might also happen to be trucks *cough*). They had him draw one so they could count the "parts". There's some sort of test that is based on how many body parts you draw at certain ages. He had enough parts on Optimus Prime that it was 'age appropriate.'

 

My "artist" dd#2 always "scored" much higher than her actual age on those tests.

[Storygirl]

I don't know if it's a gender thing. One of my daughters drew people with arms and legs coming out of the head, while one of my sons has always made his people look more detailed. I wouldn't worry about anyone who still has rudimentary drawing skills at age six.  That's still very young.

 

I'm not sure about the color thing.  I haven't noticed a difference among my children with that.  Each one just draws and colors in his or her own individual way.

[Storygirl]

Ds#2 draws people with no necks and limited torsos. But I seem to remember dd#1 & dd#3 doing that at his age (~ 5). 

 

My oldest boy just started to draw people. At his pre-K checkup at the doctor, they wanted him to draw a person. He replied that he doesn't draw people - mostly trucks and Transformers (who might also happen to be trucks *cough*). They had him draw one so they could count the "parts". There's some sort of test that is based on how many body parts you draw at certain ages. He had enough parts on Optimus Prime that it was 'age appropriate.'

 

My "artist" dd#2 always "scored" much higher than her actual age on those tests.

 

Interesting!  My pediatrician hasn't done anything like this. I haven't heard of this before.

[Coco_Clark]

I just have boys and all three have started drawing people in a different way.  

 

First son- Your basic circle head on top of straight line body, but with two perfectly perpendicular arms and legs lines (all his people did the splits).  NO facial features other than eyes.

 

Second son- Often forgot leg all together but very very carefully drew 5 fingers at the end of each arm, hair, and giant ears.

 

Third son- Draws two circles on top of each other snowman style with hair on top and a bellybutton.  Always a belly button.  I'm trying not to take this as a sign I'm getting fat. ;)

[silver]

I've seen three different readiness/developmental tests that include drawing a person and counting the details (hair, mouth, limbs, feet, etc) that are included. So it must be partially a developmental thing. The doctor's office one that I've seen has gross motor, verbal, fine motor, and social-emotional development measures, and I think the "draw a person" thing fell into social-emotional? The most recent exam I saw it on said it can be an indicator of "intellectual maturity," show development of body concept, and be used to measure fine motor skills.

 

In an talk by Andrew Pudewa, he said that boys tend to draw verbs (projectiles, movement, etc) while girls draw nouns (babies, flowers, etc). He mentioned that teachers judging pictures may find the girls' pictures to be "nicer" because of more color and more recognizable subjects, but that doing so is just an issue with not understanding the differences between development in boys vs girls.

[IsabelC]

Tbh I'm a little skeptical about those stages kids are meant to pass through with drawing. None of my kids did the supposedly 'typical' series starting with a circle/blob and gradually adding details. When my Ms 5 started 4yo kinder, the teacher said it was a sign of giftedness that she drew people with many details (teeth, eyebrows, toes, etc) and all body parts (head, body, arms, legs, hands, feet). However, over a year later, she doesn't draw significantly better than before, whereas her sister (definitely not gifted) draws beautifully detailed portraits (although admittedly more of horses than humans!). Maybe it's more about how much they like drawing and how much practice/encouragement they get? You mentioned that your son can draw bodies (to add an action or a specific outfit) so it doesn't sound like a problem. It sounds like he is simply choosing to draw in more than one different style on different occasions.

[melbotoast]

When DS7 started drawing he would draw a smiley face (without a circle around it) and then sticks coming out of that for arms and legs. He doesn't draw much, I should ask him to see how he draws now.

 

DD 4 draws bodies, heads with faces, hair, clothing, etc.

[fdrinca]

Another observation for boys drawing with motion. I'm trying to think of what DD7s people look like, and what comes to mind is a lot of articulation and bodies in motion: bent knees and elbows running, kicking, jumping, attacking dragons, etc. 

[Ausmumof3]

Ds drew cars and rockets and planes. His first person was a head in the window of a car. Dd drew people first then animals. I think kids draw what interests them. Ds draws incredibly detailed pics of some things but his people are still basic. Dd draws people with all kinds of features but different ones each time. It could be fingers on stick arms, it could be eyebrows, it could be a belly button. Mostly though she draws animals.

[GoVanGogh]

I've seen three different readiness/developmental tests that include drawing a person and counting the details (hair, mouth, limbs, feet, etc) that are included. So it must be partially a developmental thing. The doctor's office one that I've seen has gross motor, verbal, fine motor, and social-emotional development measures, and I think the "draw a person" thing fell into social-emotional? The most recent exam I saw it on has this to say:

 

 

In an talk by Andrew Pudewa, he said that boys tend to draw verbs (projectiles, movement, etc) while girls draw nouns (babies, flowers, etc). He mentioned that teachers judging pictures may find the girls' pictures to be "nicer" because of more color and more recognizable subjects, but that doing so is just an issue with not understanding the differences between development in boys vs girls.

 

How kids draw bodies can be a test for dyspraxia/developmental coordination delay - they aren't fully aware of where their own body parts are, let alone able to draw them properly. It can also be a test for midline brain issues - body may seem to be drawn almost in two halves.

 

[Farrar]

So much of our conception of what makes a "correct" stick man is culturally generated.  When I lived in China, I was quite surprised to see that a stick figure was very different - the legs came out of the arms!  And apparently there are some groups - I know Aborigines are among them - who draw their stick figures from the top view, instead of the front like we do.  The whole idea of the stick figure is just as symbol driven as a letter or an Egyptian hieroglyph in my opinion.

[boscopup]

My 9 year old still draws stick figures most of the time. He's capable of drawing a body, but he doesn't like to. My youngest is more likely to draw a body. He has better fine motor skills for age.

 

All of my boys draw plenty of verbs. It's so interesting to see how they portray motion - bullets or arrows flying, people falling over dead, etc. Then there are explosions, which end up scribbling all over the paper!

[kiwik]

I only have sons. Ds7 drew stick people at about 4 to 4.5, ds5 just after his 3rd birthday (he could also colour well at 2). The odd thing is that ds5 has always put a circle at the junction of the legs and the body (a lot smaller than the head) so all his people have prominent bottoms.

 

A lot of professionals in child development think a kid who still draws legs out of the head shows a lack of body awareness and indicates a child who has poor body control and is not ready for school. Since this isn't relevant to your child it is merely an interesting habit.

[Dory]

My ds#2 drew people with necks, bodies, arms, legs, feet, hands, hair, and eyes when he was about 5. My dd drew that when she was 3. My ds#2 also seemed to like using only his few favorite colors, my dd seemed to think that colors were there to be used and a picture was not complete unless she has put as much color as possible into it. My dd started drawing with more dimension to her pictures when she was 6.

My oldest ds seems to be allergic to drawing. I have managed to convince him to at least try to do some art and he can produce amazingly lovely pictures. He is great at adding shadows and light, and giving his drawings and paintings dimension and texture, but he started doing that when he was 10. For some reason, although he'd good at it, he has never enjoyed it.

[Rachel]

So much of our conception of what makes a "correct" stick man is culturally generated.  When I lived in China, I was quite surprised to see that a stick figure was very different - the legs came out of the arms!  And apparently there are some groups - I know Aborigines are among them - who draw their stick figures from the top view, instead of the front like we do.  The whole idea of the stick figure is just as symbol driven as a letter or an Egyptian hieroglyph in my opinion.

 

This fascinates me.  I have 5 younger siblings but I only remember one brother drawing much.  He did the bodies with the big head and the arms/legs coming out of them.  When my son did it too, I assumed it was developmental.  As far as I know my kids have never seen me draw a stick person.  It makes sense that drawings are symbol driven though.

[Dory]

I don't think it's completely symbol driven. Perhaps for adults it is, and perhaps most children pick up on that, but there is a level of detail that most children will add on their own simply because they start noticing it. That why therapists can use childrens drawings to understand what the child sees and why developmental charts list what things the average child will start adding to their drawings at what age. In the kindergarten class my kids went to, they put a slide show on during their Mother's Day tea thing where they showcased all the drawings the kids did of their mommies. They did have some things that were similar, but there was a lot of variety to how the children drew their people.

[Farrar]

I can't find the article I read about the Aboriginal kids drawings, but here's a different once that expresses the concept:

http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/news/different-strokes/99614.article

 

I couldn't find a good example of a Chinese stick drawing, but if you know Chinese characters, it's clearly influenced by that.  And yet kids at the school where I taught all drew their quick stick figures like that.  They thought my American/Western style stick figure was fascinating.  One older boy came up and showed me the "correct" way to draw a simple stick figure.

 

I think adding detail is part of growing up.  I think how kids add detail is driven largely by cultural cues and the art and styles they're exposed to.

[boscopup]

I don't think it's completely symbol driven. Perhaps for adults it is, and perhaps most children pick up on that, but there is a level of detail that most children will add on their own simply because they start noticing it. That why therapists can use childrens drawings to understand what the child sees and why developmental charts list what things the average child will start adding to their drawings at what age. In the kindergarten class my kids went to, they put a slide show on during their Mother's Day tea thing where they showcased all the drawings the kids did of their mommies. They did have some things that were similar, but there was a lot of variety to how the children drew their people.

 

I remember Kindergarten orientation at my oldest son's private school. The teacher told the kids to all draw their families on the paper in front of them while she talked to the parents. Most kids were drawing little stick figure families. There was one girl that did amazing detail - hairbows, curly hair, things like that. I think hers even had bodies instead of sticks, but I can't remember for sure (it's been 5 years now!). Then my son picked up a handful of crayons and made an arc on his paper... It was a rainbow. :lol: He didn't like to draw (fine motor skills). He'd rather read and read and read. He's still that way today, though he will draw stick figures now. :D Drawing a more intricate drawing would require a longer time spent drawing, and since he doesn't like to draw, he takes a shortcut. He's perfectly capable of drawing a person with an actual body. He just doesn't want to. He was the same way with copying narration sentences in first grade: if he knew he was going to have to copy the sentence he was dictating to me, he'd count the words in his head and give me a much shorter sentence, despite being perfectly capable of giving a much more mature sounding, lengthy sentence. When he didn't have to write, his narrations were so much better than the example narrations in the book (SOTW, WWE). I had to start telling him that if he gave me short sentences, I'd make him write 2 or 3 sentences to make up for it. He finally stopped the counting words bit. ;)

 

I'm not sure what a doctor would get from my son's drawings. :tongue_smilie: